Sponsored: Will Esports Become a Regional Community?

This is a sponsored post for the X-Live Esports Summit on August 22-23, in New York

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]How can an esports team create a connection to a city that they represent?[/perfectpullquote]

If you asked any random person on the streets of Boston who their favorite baseball team was, you wouldn’t be surprised if they answered with the Red Sox. In the world of traditional sports, sports franchises attract the fandom of entire cities. What benefits does this have, and what steps are being taken, if any, to bring this level of fan support to esports?

At the upcoming XLIVE Esports Summit in NYC August 22-23rd industry execs will dive into this issue and more.

Related posts:

Traditional sports wouldn’t last without regionalism. It’s hard to get facts and figures on the specifics of this, as most teams are privately owned companies. However, there is one exception: the publicly owned Green Bay Packers. In their financial record release on July 14th we can see the impact their local ties has. Of the $441.4M net revenue for 2016-2017, $197.4M of that was from “local” sources, namely game-day revenue, local broadcast fees, local sponsorships, etc.

Okay, so an impressive 44.72% of the revenue for a major NFL team is attributed to local sources. Can this be a revenue generator for esports teams? Blizzard Entertainment is starting this process by selling regional franchise spots in their Overwatch League (OWL). However, for this to work, one main question needs to be answered:

How can an esports team create a connection to a city that they represent?

Teams currently attract a fanbase primarily from their country of origin, as a result of cultural/language factors. However, the level of regionalism that Blizzard seeks to create through the Overwatch League will have its challenges and its own questions. Where will the matches take place? Will teams travel from location to location, or will we see a HOME/AWAY game model start to form to build local scenes?

Blizzard has a long way to go with their regionalism efforts, but Blizzard isn’t the only one working on this problem. Twelve teams representing their own cities throughout the United States will battle in this year’s season of Super League Gaming.

In addition, scholastic tournaments like the Collegiate Starleague and Tespa are working to provide students and alumni with a strong connection to their local collegiate teams. Tespa is a subsidiary of Blizzard Entertainment, further showing their commitment to promoting regionalism.

Creating local communities and fostering regionalism is tough, but there’s so many strong players involved in making it happen.

Many of those working on this will be in attendance at this year’s Xlive Esports conference in August! Our speaker list includes:

Christina Alejandre – General Manager/Vice President of Esports for Turner Entertainment (Eleague)